The Poetry Lounge 3: the Power of Performance Study Guide & Lesson

THE POETRY LOUNGE 3: THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE

STUDY GUIDE & LESSON PLAN

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Spoken Word poetry is a contemporary form of performance that has revitalized young people’s appreciation of the poetic form. Spoken Word can be distinguished from more traditional poetry the way a play can be distinguished from a novel, in that it is written specifically to be performed. Where a traditional poem is often purposefully obscure and is intended for multiple re-readings, spoken word poets have only one chance to communicate their meanings to the audience. Like plays, spoken word poetry is designed to elicit an immediate and visceral audience reaction. Because of this a lot of power must be packed into the poem.

The following guide is designed to be used interactively with the Poetry Lounge DVDs. For each poet, we have included material that can help you point out salient features of the poet’s craft to student along with teaching ideas that can be used as prompts to help students in their writing and performance of spoken word poetry.

In some cases the power of the poetry comes from the artist’s performance. Just like the skill of an actor can make a play powerful, how the poet performs his/her poetry often has a great deal of impact on how the audience responds. “The Power of Performance” is designed to help students explore how they can use aspects of performance to enhance their poetry.

While every poem has important poetic and performance aspects, this guide is designed to emphasize specific features of each poem so that teachers can use them as models to help students in the writing, revising, and performance of their own poetry.

Performance is a unique feature of spoken word poetry. Although some aspects of performance need to be introduced to students with ongoing exercises (such as eye contact, voice projection, and movement) some can be taught through using experienced poets as models.

There are particular features of language and action that cause the audience to respond to your poetry performance. Here are some suggestions from the Poetry Lounge 3:

The Poems From Poetry Lounge 3

MUMM-RA VS PANTHRO By Paul Maboon

Thunder! Thunder!!! Thunder!!!!!! Thundercats Hooooooooo!!!!!!!! 5th grade I was Panthro! Hands go Wappa! Wappa! Wappa! with my nun chucks to much for any domestic abusing foe! Shoulder straps! Spiked tips! Muscles ripped! The Coolest Thundercat! And even though he was blue, you knew he was black! Back when Mom's only son wasn't afraid to act when we were on our own then He came home "Wonder if he gonna live with us?" Didn't trust him, like most boys do grown men moving in "He spending the night again? How come he got three pieces of fish? I did clean up! He used that dish! Wish he just gone somewhere! That's not fair! He cain't tell me what to do, he ain't my Daddy! I ain’t even do nothing! Why you mad at me?" Because she loved him. She was happy. Next few years instincts wouldn't let it go, let it flow "Paul, Charles said you wanna go fishin?" No! "I'm watchin Thundercats, all-day-long! Playing with action figures singin that song Dun Da Dun da Dun Da Da, Thundercats are loose!" In Today's Episode The evil Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living aka Charles, is living with Panthro's mom But Panthro uses his nun-chuks to beat up Mumm-Ra till he's gone! Oh no! Panthro! We're under attack! Calm down! What's wrong WilyKat? I was cruising in the Thundertank when Jacklman jacked me, for The Eye of Thundera! And then he went and slapped me! Thhhh! AHHHH! Mumm-Ra's using the The Eye to hypnotize your mom! Lion-O gave me the Sword of Omens, should we tell him what's wrong? Lion-O's a punk! I should have been the leader! Then I could date Cheetara and have some baby pather-cheetas! Alright Mumm-Ra I'm bringing out my nun-chucks! Wappa! It's time to die! Stop hypnotizing my mom! Wappa! And give back the Thundera's eye! Wake up Mom! Mumm-Ra's evil! Remember when it was just us? "Panthro! Watch out Mumm-Ra's power is about to bust!" Booom! Quick! Everybody run to your room! Cover your ears. Get under the cover! Get under the cover! Boom! Get under the cover! Get under the cover!

Get under the cover! Stop hittin my Mother! Stop hittin my Mother! Stop hittin my Mother! stop hittin my mother

DEFERRED RACE By Brotha Gimel

So I'm hanging on the block with my crew, right? And Uncle Sam approaches in the form of Popo. My boys disperse, straight get ghost. But since I decide to stay, Jake. I mean, Uncle Sam told me had this task you wanna throw my way as his partner's beginning to pat me down he's like, don't bother turning around the challenge is this if you can run 100 + 1 yards non stop on a straight away beaten path you'll be granted total and complete liberation. In other words, we'll stop sweatin' you Can you do it, boy? Aren't you gonna clock or me or nothin'? Shooff. I take off with all the intensity and vigor my little body can Muster. I'm gonna win. With my eyes on the prize of my imagination's favorite muse. Freedom. Conquering my life's insecurities and inhibitions while increasing intuition one yard at a time. Diminish your self hate with a high stepped sense of pride and astride of [sovereign awareness] That's my encouragement. Capable of making calculated[snap decisions]like putting them up and putting them down in a flash. This is the dash of a lifetime. A generation. A a race. Run! 60 yards in I begin to contemplate the responsibilities of my future emancipation as possible. Run! For all the black activists, artists, dreamers and freedom fighters who have never left for the promised land. Run! I own up to your ideals, each one, teach one, leading by example and not letting you down. The weight on my shoulder I don't mind if it's how I'll be defined. By the 90 yard line I'm starting to feel like the weight is over. Nothing can stop me now, social progress is mine.

I attack 95 with tears in my eyes and a feeling I've never been deprived [by the eyes in the glasses at my 9 to 5] Fatigued and winded I oppose 96 willing to commit to a strategy to rehabilitate convicts Defy gravity 'cause it is not a coincidence that I'm saying goodbye half hazardly as 97th and 98 th yards are overcast by ambition and fate. I grind out 99 with upraised spine and my chin just got no more obstacles to now bump my chest than glory, bam! I'm stopped in my tracks, unable to make the final yard mark. I'm reaching for the door to freedom but I can't quite reach the knob, there's something stopping me, and it's-- There's an anklet. It's nice, it's like platinum and gold and with some diamonds on it. Oh, and the diamonds-- Look at that chain! Oh, that's a really nice chain, man. That chain's long enough it's like four, five hundred years long I can put some joints around my wrist I can trade it in and put some joints around my neck and have a whole matching set on me to flash on the block. I could take the rest of it and trade it in for a new whip. Brand new mansion. I'll be the flyest dude on this block! In my new 500 Benz. Thinking of the Benz. I was going somewhere. I was gonna get-- But before that I had to-- We were gonna-- It was-- Damn. Guess my race got deferred.

COURAGE By Crystal Irby

I’ve been in the valley Wishing I was on the mountain top I’ve been on the sand Wishing I was in the ocean I’ve been in the darkness Praying for the light I’ve been in the morning Praying the night So I could cry Just a little bit longer for you And I’ve been on earth Praying for heaven I’ve been where broken hearts go And I don’t wanna see the end of the world anymore

So I finally got the courage To swallow my cries And I finally got the courage To stop believin’ your lies And I finally got the courage To stop waiting on your phone call And I finally got the courage To take those dead roses off the wall And I finally got the courage To say no And the world didn’t end Like I thought it would And I finally got the courage To let you go And I kept on breathin’ Like I…Like I never thought I could

So I finally got the courage To pray to God to get over you I mean to really get over you And I finally got the courage To take your photographs outta plain view And I finally got the courage To wash your T-shirts So they don’t feel like you

And I finally got the courage To delete your numbers From my phone So I won’t call And I finally got the courage to realize You don’t miss me at all When I check my messages And I don’t hear your voice When I check my caller ID And I don’t see your name On my birthday…the holiday…or just Wednesday

So I finally got the courage To stop thinkin’ I was born into this world just to love you And I finally got the courage To stop thinkin’ being by your side is all I could ever do And I finally got the courage To stop fantasizing and rehearsing our reunion Because I finally got the courage To realize our time had reached its conclusion So I finally got the courage To be mad at you for leavin’ me And I finally got the courage To stop going to the places I knew you’d be Dressed in my best outfit For you to see To make you realize Just how much you really/really missed me

So I finally got the courage to realize Maybe you and I weren’t written in the stars And I finally got the courage To put peroxide on all my scars To cleanse my wounds So my heart would have no bars And I finally got the courage To stop missing the smell of you on my pillow And I finally got the courage Too stop missing you lying beside me And I finally got the courage To stop missing you looking into my eyes To stop missing you touching me Stop missing you holding me Stop missing you kissing me

Stop…missing…you

So give me the gold medal And the heavy weight belt I ran the longest distance And I took the hardest blow Give me the trophy and the crown That reads Broken heart healed/Lost self found Engrave my name on a plaque Write the date in the history books Today I did the hardest thing I ever had to do Today I woke up and realized I finally got the courage To get over you

MONSTERS By Poetri

I have demons. They lie and wait for the perfect time when I'm feeling weak and vulnerable When I don't have my guard up when I'm thinking hard about something, they make me eat when I don't wanna eat. I have something worse than demons. I have monsters, in my stomach. Oh, you don't believe me? You think I'm fat 'cause I wanna be fat? You don't think I wanna have a six pack? Take off my shirt at any given time? Like all those pretty working out types brothers do for no reason at all? Why is your shirt off, man? It's zero degrees outside. Why is your shirt off? I remember when the monsters were just babies. They were trying to make me eat something and I would just laugh. Oh, be quiet little monster. We just ate. Then I would run outside and go play basketball and work out all the calories I ate that day. Man those were the good old days. But now, my monsters are full grown adults conniving my taste buds like humans manipulate other humans and it just don't seem right when I go dragging to go get 99 cent chicken nuggets on Tuesday when I already had El Pollo Loco talking about I can't pass up this deal. Come on, monsters! We just ate! They keep me from the gym. You don't believe me. You think I wanna wear a size 4X 'cause all the kids do. Well, this may be a shocker to you, but I'm not skinny and I'm not that hip. I wear a size 4X because that's the only size that fits me and my monsters and how mad do I get when I go to the store trying to find the biggest size only to find that the biggest sizes are all sold out. Some skinny cool kid bought them all. Get your own size! Every time, every time I even think about going to work out the monsters devise a plan to thwart my mission and I end up working out a way to get to KFC.

Hey, you should see me when I eat. How many people sweat when they eat? Just me? It's because the monsters are hard at work devouring all the food that they force me to put on my plate. I hate the false feeling of getting a work out while I'm eating. But if you ever catch me after grubbin on a hot plate at aunt Mae’s house you might think that I just ran a marathon, sweating like an athlete fat as a couch potato, these monsters got jokes man, man. You don't believe me. You don't believe in monsters. That's how they get you. I used to be that way, too. Monsters can find a home anywhere in your body. They may not be in your stomach, but you checked your heart lately? Monsters lurk like babies just waiting to get adult, and if you don't watch it, they grow up fast, helping you hate everyone who tries to help you you didn't get a reputation for being cold hearted but I know that truth. You just got monsters in your heart. I can't tell you how to get help because they're not my own monsters. Your best bet is to pray. The sooner we realize there are monsters inside of all of us The better this world will be. I have monsters in my stomach. Where are yours?

VERBALLY DISTURBED By Sekou Andrews

When I write a rhyme, it's like I lose all sense of time Space becomes irrelevant, there's only state of mind So I climb and elevate, create and celebrate “Poetical” entrees that make you salivate Till your palate aches and craves to taste the rave I bake soufflés of words my medulla marinades Then I serenade cerebellums leaving hypothalamuses busted Numbing motor skills, cause I flow to thrill Ill be the rhythms of the night so I'm giving up delight And insight that puts me in flight Then write ten hype lines that bend light And send fright to foes, and send might to those Who relate to this altered state lyrics cultivate Can't concentrate when I wants to make rhymes And even if I never get a monetary payoff My poetry brings order to my chaos-- …it's hard to explain.

When I write a rhyme, I make the most incomprehensibly understandable Contradictory lyrics of the time Spherically designed for a continuum of lines I'm gon’ send you one of mine, and watch it bend you by the spine I'm inclined to spend my time caught up in a beat Forget to shave, to eat, forget to bathe, to sleep I'm a slave of freaked verses that disperse with my ills Leaving my hunger fulfilled by the thrill of the words that spill From the larynx when I share a mix, but beware of tricks That bleed from the sleeves of diseased emcees Who please the masses, but fail hip-hop classes Cause they see the world through commercial glasses So he passes the mic back to the real I blast with a hype track, and I kill the pain When I feel the rain of verbal precipitation on my brain You know I find this all rather difficult to explain.

When I write a rhyme It's like I enter a world of words Adjectives and adverbs surge in my nerves Until herds of absurd concepts emerge Leaving me on the verge of being Verbally Disturbed So I splurge on a record, which provokes the track Which provokes the rap, which provokes the stacks But even with no contract it hurts not to disperse a verse It's kind of like a blessing and a curse

When I write a rhyme, the whole world is mine Ain't no space and time, only state of mind When I write a rhyme, everything is fine Ain't no ghetto crimes, ain't no chalk lines When I write a rhyme, the whole world is mine Ain't no space and time, only state of mind When I write a rhyme, everything is fine Nobody's totin’ nines, nobody's doing lines. . . . When I write a rhyme.

And I could write rhymes till I'm weak and I ache in my bones And still write till I get carpal tunnel syndrome And keep writing till my record contract is blown And still write till my home gets foreclosed on And write rhymes till I'm broke, car repossessed And still write till my wife took the kids and left And keep writing till I see the first signs of death And take it all with no stress, cause I'm so dang fresh

AND ONE DAY! I'm gonna be up in the game AND ONE DAY! Everyone will know my name AND ONE DAY! I'm gonna have the cash and fame And maybe then it won't be so hard to explain AND ONE DAY! I'm gonna be up in the game AND ONE DAY! Everyone will know my name AND ONE DAY! I'm gonna have the cash and fame And maybe then I can explain how it is

When I write a rhyme.

LESSON PLAN

1. Mumm Ra Versus Panthro – Paul Mabon a. Intertextuality and Imagery: This poet uses another text (the cartoon Thunder Cats) to frame his poem. By referencing another text that the audience is familiar with, the poet gives a sense of his point of view (he is narrating the poem as if he is a child). This intertextuality also allows the audience to form particular pictures in their minds (of the Thunder Cats characters). This powerful use of imagery immediately makes the poem have a greater impact. b. Teaching Idea: This poet uses a persona – a character who performs (a small child). One way to have students develop a persona is to place several pairs of shoes in the front of the room and ask students to describe what the person who owns the shoes might be like. Using their information create character studies on the board. Then have several perform a line from a poem (any poem, it doesn’t matter) as the character who owns the shoes. Have students create a list poem (like I Am From) for one of the characters who owns the shoes.

2. Deferred Race – Brutha Gimel a. Speed and Timber: This poem indicates the power of performance in spoken word poetry. If we were to simply read this poem it is unlikely that it would have the same impact. By acting out his running of the race he is actually illustrating the extended metaphor that frames his poem. The metaphor is communicated through the poet’s actions and through his use of fast and slow and loud and soft voice dynamics. b. Teaching Idea: Have students pair up and take turns delivering a line to each other. The line should be something like “Hey, look at that baby.” Have the students say the line with a different gesture (as if saving a baby, or watching a superhero baby fly, or as if the baby is an attractive grown- up). Have some volunteers act out their lines and talk about how gestures can change the meaning of a line. Discuss how the gestures not only give the audience a better understanding of the author’s meaning but how gestures can all writers to choose words more effectively.

3. Courage – Crystal Irby a. Repetition: This poet can be used to teach the power of repetition. By starting several lines of her poem with “and I finally got the courage to…” the audience gets the feeling of being pushed forward. This gets the audience emotionally involved with the poetry. b. Speed: This poet also uses stops in the middle of line breaks. This makes the audience anticipate what is coming. You can see that she also speeds up and delivers several lines at a faster pace. Again, this gives the audience the feeling of movement in the poem. c. Teaching Idea: Have the students’ write a 2x4 comic (two panels across four down) based on the “I Used to Believe…But Now I Know…” pattern. In each column students start the caption with the words, “I used to believe” and start the second panel with the words “but now I know.” They will use this construction four times (in the four rows down) and will illustrate each panel with a graphic. This lets students see the power of repetition in that each column, even though it starts with the same words, tells us something different about the author. Students can then use a repeated phrase as the basis for a poem (offer several repeated phrases). There are other types of poems that use repeated phrases including Irish Curse poems (I curse you with…), I Am From Poems, and many others.

4. Monsters – Poetri a. Point of view: The power of this performance comes partially from the fact that the poet uses implied conversational partners. He acts like he is speaking directly to the men who work out and to the monsters. This poet also asks direct questions of the audience. This forces listeners to take an active role while listening to the poem. b. Exaggerated movements: This poet uses exaggerated movements to emphasize particular parts of his poetry. These movements tell the audience when he is finishing part of his story or joke. c. Teaching Idea: Write a short poem on the board (five to six lines). Have the students read the poem aloud in unison. Ask students to suggest a movement that corresponds with each line in the poem and narrow it down until each line of the poem has a corresponding piece of choreography. Reread the poem a couple of times with the students incorporating the choreography. You can then change the choreography and see how the change in movements affects the meaning of the poem.

5. Verbally Disturbed – Sekou Andrews a. Rhythm: This poem is a collection of the poet’s musings about his own writing. Like the poem “God Doesn’t Make Mistakes” this poem is not a narrative. What makes this poem so powerful is the poet’s use of “hip-hop” rhythm. Most hip hop songs are written in a 4/4 rhythm and this poet uses that familiar beat to give structure to his poem. This is particularly powerful because the topic of his poem is about writing “rhymes” a colloquialism for hip hop lyrics. So, the rhythm of the poem supports the topic of the poem. b. Stanza length: Another important feature of this poem is that the poet performs long stanzas without stopping to take a breath. It is easy to see the audience’s appreciative reaction to this poet’s skill in vocal performance. c. Teaching Idea: Have students listen to hip hop songs and clap their hands with the beat. Then take a line from a traditional poem and change it so that it has the same beat as a hip hop song. Next, try to change a hip hop lyric to a different beat (like iambic pentameter). Discuss how the beat influences word and line length choice.

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